This Week

Happy anniversary to us! This issue marks the 145th birthday of The Clarendon Enterprise, and we’re very happy to still be bringing you the news and recording the ups and downs of Donley County.

It was June 1, 1878, when Rev. L.H. Carhart printed the first issue of what was then known as The Clarendon News. The reverend faced many challenges in getting out the news to celebrate his fledgling colony located at that time on the banks of the Salt Fork of the Red River at Carroll Creek. For one thing, the paper was printed back in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and only came out monthly. It was two years before Ed Carhart would bring the first printing press to the Panhandle and start publishing on a weekly basis.

Across the generations, our newspaper has had to adapt to survive – from the move of the townsite to the railroad to the adoption of ever-changing technology. Each publisher has had to figure out the best ways to continue to publish and deliver the news each week and thereby inform local citizens of what’s going on in Donley County while at the same time recording history for posterity.

The digital age has been a great benefit and a great challenge for newspapers. The Enterprise has been a leader among Texas weekly newspapers in adopting new technologies. We were one of the first weekly newspapers in Texas to offer a digital edition for subscribers directly to their email boxes to peruse on their computers, tablets, and smartphones. People rely on the Enterprise’s website and social media outlets. The paper that originally communicated only once a month can now send out the news in seconds. And during COVID, we embraced streaming technology to offer live updates on the danger facing our community.

Many small businesses have been hard hit in the last few years, and the newspaper business has been no different.
Since our last anniversary, we have reported the deaths of two of the Texas’ greatest community newspapers – the Iowa Park Leader last summer and the Canadian Record earlier this year. Those papers closed their doors for a variety of reasons, but their absence expands what some are calling “news deserts” in rural America. Those are small towns or entire counties that have no local news coverage. Studies show that when newspapers disappear from communities, tax rates go up, local officials begin to skirt the law, and citizens become less aware of what’s going on with their local governments.

Beyond recording the wins and losses of local sports teams, the graduations of students, and the obituaries of passing citizens, newspapers provide information that citizens and voters need to hold elected officials accountable and to make good decisions about their communities.

As we have said before, our newspaper would not have survived to this point without the support of the local business community. Advertising has been what pays our salaries, and this has been the case from day one. This is why we have always supported and promoted our local businesses. We understand, perhaps better than most, that there exists a synergy between local merchants and the community.

We still hold fast to the premise that a good, strong community requires the presence of a good, strong newspaper. A strong newspaper requires the advertising of a strong business community, and that comes right back to citizens supporting local businesses.

Increasingly in the newspaper business, the financial support of readers and contributors is also keeping the doors open. People are coming to realize that local journalism matters. No matter what your feelings about the national media are, it is likely that you understand the importance of good local reporting.

If you value the newspaper you’re reading, if you value the service we provide in keeping local governments accountable, if you value the coverage we give to your schools and college, then we urge you show that support by subscribing to the Enterprise. If you already have a subscription, then please consider purchasing a gift subscription for friends or family who no longer live in Donley County but who still love the old hometown.

We continue to explore new and innovative ways to deliver you the news and to bring you information. We’re working on some exciting changes that we hope you will enjoy in the coming weeks and months. And we hope that you will share that enjoyment and encourage others to back our efforts as well.

We appreciate the support so many readers and advertisers have shown us for 145 years, and Clarendon is fortunate to have several other businesses that have been here for generations as well as new businesses that keep our little town fresh and exciting. Together we can continue to work to make Clarendon and Donley County the best that it can be for many years to come.